OG are running through the lower bracket at ESL One Katowice

OG played third fiddle to Team Secret and Gambit Esports in the group stage at ESL One Katowice, placing just behind Gambit at 6-4. But they didn’t let that rattle them once the playoffs began.

After losing 2-0 to Gambit in that stacked Group A competition, OG were forced to start the playoffs in the lower bracket where they matched up against Team Aster.

The opening game was a nice back-and-forth between the two teams, but nothing Aster did was sticking. OG just kept on going right at Aster, forcing them into situations that they couldn’t get out of without overextending.

Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung and Lu “Fenrir” Chao made some strides to pull it back at the end, but Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka kept things steady for his squad as OG took the win. And once they went up 1-0, OG put on a show in game two, including going for some creative things that paid big dividends.

Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen took over for JerAx as the driving force in game two, pushing his team to play at an extremely fast pace. With a dominant display in the works, it took the reigning International champions 23 minutes to dash any hope Aster had of moving on.  

From there, OG started their climb through the lower bracket. In their next series, Ninjas in Pyjamas started off strong—but OG finished stronger. Despite some early misplays that cost them the first game in embarrassing fashion, Sébastien “7ckngMad” Debs helped erase them as they came back to win the next two.

By the time they reached the third game against NiP, OG were feeling themselves again. They sealed the 2-1 victory with a 29-10 advantage to close game three.

Looking ahead to see Gambit and Secret battling it out, OG wanted to make sure their name was in that conversation during the final day. That meant they needed to take down the top team out of Group B: Fnatic, who were knocked into the lower bracket by Gambit.

Not only did OG take care of business, but they also looked comfortable doing it.

Fnatic dropped a close game one and couldn’t recover in the elimination game. This allowed OG to clinch their appearance in the lower bracket finals and a top three finish at the event.

The Group A dominance will come to a head at 5am CT on Feb. 24 when Gambit and OG clash to see who will move on to face Secret in the grand finals.